President Obama said on the "Today" show Monday morning that American students attend school a month less than kids in other countries -- contending that the school-year gap puts them at a competitive disadvantage in the global economy. "The idea of a longer school year, I think, makes sense," he said, when asked if kids should go to school year-round.
The president also said that though per-student spending has gone up in the country, student performance has gone down, which shows that "money without reform will not fix the problem." He urged teachers unions not to resist his administration's reforms, which include evaluation of teachers based on their students' test performance and an emphasis on independent charter schools.
Obama has pushed for a longer school year before.
"We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day," Obama said last year. "That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st-century economy."
He joked then that the idea was not popular with his two school-age daughters. Obama also said that his daughters, Sasha and Malia, would not be able to obtain the same quality of instruction at D.C. public schools (which are known for their low test scores and high dropout rates) that they get at Sidwell Friends School. Advocates of education reform have called out the first family in the past for sending the girls to private school
The president also said that though per-student spending has gone up in the country, student performance has gone down, which shows that "money without reform will not fix the problem." He urged teachers unions not to resist his administration's reforms, which include evaluation of teachers based on their students' test performance and an emphasis on independent charter schools.
Obama has pushed for a longer school year before.
"We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day," Obama said last year. "That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st-century economy."
He joked then that the idea was not popular with his two school-age daughters. Obama also said that his daughters, Sasha and Malia, would not be able to obtain the same quality of instruction at D.C. public schools (which are known for their low test scores and high dropout rates) that they get at Sidwell Friends School. Advocates of education reform have called out the first family in the past for sending the girls to private school
